Bell Springs Road robbery alert

There’s an alert which was announced on KMUD of an armed robbery or burglary on Bell Springs Road and that the suspects are at large identified as three African-American men in a white vehicle with faded white paint. They’re probably on 101 on their way to the Bay Area by now. I don’t find the alert on the Sheriff’s press release page.

You figure it was related to illegal pot selling and violence was involved but not reported to authorities? Nah…

Do you feel you’re in a supportative community knowing your neighbors aren’t reporting violent crimes that occur and the perps could be emboldened to return, maybe to your house next time?

How did you know they are driving South on 101 to the Bay Area? Could they have driven home to Honeydew or Ferndale?

Oh yeah, they’re Black. And ‘Black While in Humboldt’ (BWH) is a community crime, punishable by exclusion, shunning, and harassment. Can’t have Blacks, but there’s no problem with criminal behavior that creates violence. As long as money is being made, don’t be judgemental.

What a load of crap. Eric’s assumption that the robbers were probably headed south on 101 is perfectly valid given that this is what usually happens in pot burglaries — the perps head to the city where they will be less likely to be recognized, safety in numbers and all that, and where they can sell the pot they stole. Race has nothing to do with that, “white” (pink) rip-off artists do the same thing. For some reason, “not a native” has decided to make it a racial issue and get all self-righteous about it. In the process, the rip-off artists are now portrayed as the victims and those they robbed are part of the community that is condemned as racist (sans evidence, of course).

Are you Eric’s alter ego or mind reader? He didn’t say it was about pot, that was my assumption. And learn some reading comprehension. I described the people in the car as perps not victims, and that the people robbed were illegally growing pot, meaning they are criminals too and fostering criminal violence.

Only Eric knows why he made the 101 assumption and he probably has opinions about the reasons for little racial diversity in all of HumCo and particularly SoHum.

How do you know that the people who were robbed were “illegally” growing pot? Answer, you don’t. Just more assumptions, just as you foolishly assumed a racial reason for Eric’s guess that the perps were probably headed south on 101.

From your various writings over the last year it seems clear that not only are you “not a native,” but that you harbor a lot of inaccurate assumptions about rural residents and folks in Humboldt County in general. Hopefully you’ll eventually find someplace that you actually like to live, rather than continuing to be the bitter and overjudgemental ass-umer that you are today.

There has been a press release issued by the Mendocino County Sherriff’s Office, though not found on their press release site. I received a copy from the Medical Marijuana Advisory Board. I don’t know how to put this email on the blog so people can read the press release. The press release was approved by Rusty Noe, Mendo County Sheriff for Willits.

(1) It turns out that the crime WAS reported, exactly the opposite of what n.a.n. ASSumed.

(2) Plus, n.a.n ASSumed that Eric had a racial reason for his guess about the perps’ escape route, which also turns out to be untrue (no surprise to the rest of us who are not toting around a giant anti-rural-Humboldt chip on our shoulders).

(3) And as usual, n.a.n. ASSumed that the victims were growing pot “illegally,” an assertion for which zero evidence has been given.

(4) But n.a.n. did correctly assume that pot was involved. Of course so did everyone else.

1 out of 4 is pretty lame as far as predictions go — but of course we expect nothing more from n.a.n., whose perceptions are so badly skewed by ideological blinders and prejudicial assumptions that any analysis usually ends up being quite counter-factual, as in this case.

“The point is that their being Black, he was certain they weren’t from SoHum.”

Umm, no, that’s just your ASSumption of why he guessed as he did. And unless you think he’s lying or that you know his thought processes better than he knows them, it appears you’re quite mistaken about that. (See his 4:57 comment.)

I think you owe Eric an apology for assuming that he was making a racial judgement.

Of course you owe the whole sohum/nomendo community an apology for your other idiotic assertions about racism, “driving while black in Humboldt,” assuming people won’t call the cops for armed robbery, assuming that the victims were law-breakers, etc. But we won’t be holding our breath for an apology, as that would require more intellectual honesty and personal integrity than you have shown so far.

But perhaps you will be good enough to at least apologize to Eric for assuming a racial reason for his “South on 101″ guess?

By the way, I wonder if there is any evidence whatsoever that an african-american driving in Humboldt is more likely to be pulled over by a cop than anyone else? I don’t know about the sherriffs, but CHP keeps stats on the “perceived race” of those who are pulled over. Those could be compared to the overall racial make-up of the county to see if this kind of profiling is really going on.

If it is, it should be spotlighted and brought to an end. Perhaps a Grand Jury investigation. Problem is, I’ve never seen any such claim made, though I know that the local naacp was “looking into it” a few years ago. So either they didn’t find any pattern, or else they didn’t care to expose it, which would be rather hard to believe.

Despite n.a.n.’s stereotyping of Humboldt residents, we are probably one of the most tolerant and accepting counties in the state, and the great majority of us would not want to see police profiling African-Americans, Hispanics, native Americans or any other group.

But I guess stereotyping is easier than marshaling actual facts, at least for the lazy would-be know-it-alls like n.a.n.

Can’t pull over people who don’t exist. Very few Blacks in HumCo and thats because its the way the locals like it. Blacks get the message, “move on”. Same for Asians too.

Figures don’t lie but lying deniers sure do. HumCo is one of the most racist counties in CA, with maybe Del Norte and Trinity vieing. Has been since the Gold Rush. The “hippies” experienced the egregious local bigotry in the 70’s. The ones who stayed did so because they were willing to assimilate into it.

Don’t exist? Really? Of course there ARE African-Americans in Humboldt, and there’s no reason why you couldn’t compare the number of African-American residents pulled over by CHP or other law enforcement to the overall number in the community and see whether they are more likely or less likely (percentage-wise) to be pulled over. Why is it that you don’t want to find out? Perhaps because the numbers might not back up your assertion about “driving while black in Humboldt?”

> “Very few Blacks in HumCo and thats because
> its the way the locals like it. Blacks get the message,
> ‘move on’. Same for Asians too.”

More assertions completely lacking in evidence. I explained above one way that you could look for evidence to prove your thesis, but you merely sidestepped it by claiming that African-American drivers “don’t exist” in Humboldt. Look, there are a lot of African-Americans in the Deep South, but obviously that does not “prove” that there is little racism in that region any more than the relatively small number of African-Americans here on the north coast “proves” that this is some kind of racist enclave.

> “Figures don’t lie but lying deniers sure do.”

What figures? You’ve cited none! Instead you just made more groundless claims.

> “HumCo is one of the most racist counties in CA,
> with maybe Del Norte and Trinity vieing.”

Again, an assertion with zero evidential basis. Starting to look like a pattern, isn’t it?

> “Has been since the Gold Rush.”

There’s no question that Humboldt has a very racist history, especially with regard to native Americans and Asians. The question is whether this is still the case…and you’ve offered no evidence whatsoever in that regard.

> “The ‘hippies’ experienced the egregious local
> bigotry in the 70’s. The ones who stayed did so
> because they were willing to assimilate into it.”

Actually, in my personal experience the “hippies” and other recent arrivals have not assimilated into racism. Quite the contrary, they have helped to change the county in a very positive way, much like what has happened in Vermont, also a mostly-white but not particularly racist place.

You’re here now, does that mean that you’ve “assimilated into” racism? I would hope not. There’s no reason to assume that many “hippies” assimilated into racism during their tenure here. Actually the “hippies” I know are generally quite enlightened and welcoming to people of various diverse backgrounds — it’s an important part of the hippy trip.

I find it sad that you have so many uniformed opinions about your neighbors here in Humboldt and that you are so quick to resort to stereotyping. If you were able to remove ideological blinders and put aside your assumptions and preconceptions, you might just find that there is a community of very open and welcoming people here.

By the way, how many Humbolt residents voted for the African-American presidential candidate, Obama, and how many voted for the “white” (pink) candidate, McCain? I believe it was quite an Obama landslide, not exactly an indication of widespread racism in the county.

I suppose you could argue that the supposedly-racist Humboldt residents are O.K. having an African-American man in the highest elected office in the land, but don’t want African-Americans in their own community. But that seems a bit hard to swallow, no?

If this was really such a racist enclave, I would have expected to see a big McCain win, just as we saw in some of the most historically racist parts of the Deep South.

So, the person making the claim that Humboldt is one of the most racist parts of California should keep in mind the idea that “extraordinary claims require exraordinary evidence.”

Actually, at this point *any* evidence for that position would be an improvement over the baseless generalizations we’ve seen so far!

These guys gotta go back to crop jacker school. All the good heists are in Fall, not Spring.

Did the victims open fire on the getaway car? If not, this story sucks. A good news story has slugs flying through windshields and people getting dumped at hospitals. Now that is some good reading. All that is missing is a good beating, preferably with a dog chain or something. These growers need to get their hands on some better guns or I’m going to cancel my newspaper subscription.

By the way, how many Humbolt residents voted for the African-American presidential candidate, Obama, and how many voted for the “white” (pink) candidate, McCain? I believe it was quite an Obama landslide, not exactly an indication of widespread racism in the county.

People in Humboldt are hella racist. So what they voted for Obama? Obama took North Carolina… do you want to lecture about how integrated North Carolina is? Obama doesn’t erase the funny looks and following you around the store mentality.

By the way, I never claimed that Obama’s big win here “erased” racism or proved that there is no racism in Humboldt. Certainly there is. I know African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians and native Americans do experience prejudice here, just as they do elsewhere. But the question at hand was whether Humboldt is “one of the most racist counties in the state” as n.a.n. claimed (also without *any* supporting evidence).

And no, north carolina isn’t free from racism, but I think it’s probably safe to say that its a lot less racist than 20 or 30 years ago, and I think the same is true of Humboldt County.

Anyway, it’s a poor comparison, because in north carolina Obama’s big win was in large part attributable to the sizeable African-American population in that state. (A huge majority of African-Americans there voted for Obama). He didn’t fare too well with the white voters, especially older white males. In Humboldt, by contrast, a mostly “white” (pink) population voted overwhelmingly for Obama. This suggests that racism among these “white” (pink) voters is not very prevalent or not very deeply felt.

Again, none of this is to deny that racism exists in Humboldt, as it does throughout this nation. What I do doubt (given the lack of evidence) is that racism is prevalent in Humboldt to the extent where we are “hella racist” or “one of the most racist counties in the state.”